Joseph-Théodore Deck was a French potter who worked towards the recognition of ceramics as an art form rather than an industrial product. During the 1850s, after acquiring a single brilliantly colored antique tile made in the Turkish city of Isnik, Deck conducted experiments on glazes at his Paris atelier. Eventually he managed to reproduce the rich color of Turkish ceramics made in the 16th and 17th centuries, known throughout the Islamic world for their luminous glazes. At the 1861 Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie, a Parisian trade fair, Deck won praise and a medal for Persian-style wares whose “dazzling hues seem like electric sparks.” Objects like this plaque, decorated with a glaze known as bleu de Deck, are among the earliest pieces to demonstrate the impact of Near Eastern styles and techniques upon Western artists.